Tag: Malick Sidibé

It is easy to talk about love after a fabulous weekend in Paris: usually when we think of Paris we imagine romantic dinners and walks under the Eiffel Tower, French kisses and romance like in a fairytale.

It was almost my case as my weekend in Paris was full of love…at least that’s what I thought!

Love was the reason why I flew to Paris in February: love for Malick Sidibé art and photography. I read that the Cartier Foundation dedicated an exhibit to this amazing Malian artist who passed away in 2016 and I wanted to see it so badly. Love was also the guy who said: why don’t we go and spend a weekend there so that we can visit the exhibit and have a nice trip together? I couldn’t be happier than that.

The weekend was indeed full of love and warmth (except for the weather as, even if the sky was blue and the sun was out, it was probably one of the coldest weekends in Paris in the last 20 years, at least this is what Parisians told us). A Sicilian is never at ease in the cold but Paris is too beautiful for not enjoying it fully.

Indeed we started our weekend from the Malick Sidibé’s exhibit: not only a collection of his amazing black and white African portraits but more a celebration of his art and his career that we enjoyed in the middle of black and white pictures, pastel walls and African music. I was amazed and so happy that I couldn’t believe that all these things were really happening: my favorite artist, my favorite town and my favorite man in the world all together!

Speaking of favorite people, after the excitement of photography we moved towards another type of excitement: fashion! Direction: the Yves Saint Laurent Museum. It is a small museum but it contains many of the iconic YSL pieces (like the Mondrian dress!), videos and photographs and it is possible to visit his atelier and studio where he created his pieces of art. Again it was such an experience!

We spent the evening in the Quartier Latin, eating and drinking in lovely brasseries and cafés, enjoying the little street of Paris and eating Senegalese food (at the Senegalese restaurant La Pointe des Almadies) with my University room-mate and her family living in Paris.

The second day was dedicated to Montmartre, where we were staying: starting from the Sacré Coeur, getting lost in the beautiful streets with a little hint of vintage (I couldn’t help visiting my favorite shop in Paris, Chez Poupoule in Montmartre, even if I had to settle for some windows watching and a picture as it was closed).

It is hard for me now to go through these pictures and memories because many of them has faded away. My love (or at least what I thought he was) went missing since a few weeks after this trip and I experienced for the first time in my life what ghosting means and that it really exists (I thought that men disappearing when everything was going extremely well was just an urban legend…well it’s not!). Was it too good to be true? Are men really scared when things are getting too well? I don’t know, but as long as I define myself a strong woman with a luminous inside light I decided to overcome my fears and sadness by writing this post, going through these memories. Maybe it will help to let my light guide me towards my true other luminous soul.

A few weeks ago I visited a great exhibit at FM Contemporary Art Center in Milan. I didn’t know about this very interesting space until I saw the flier of this event called “The White Hunter. African memories and representations” and I decided to have a look on a Saturday afternoon.

The exhibit started end of March during the Milan Art Week and it presented more than 150 works of contemporary artists (including my favorite African photographers Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibé) as well as pieces from anonymous traditional artists. The main topic is Africa just seen by different eyes and represented in many different ways. Maybe this is the reason why I couldn’t love it more!

The black building hosting the exhibit and the calm space outside was perfect also for a short outfit shooting!

It was indeed the perfect occasion to wear my Madame Ilary African wax turban that I added to a very simple outfit: old boyfriend jeans from Topshop, frilled white shirt from Alexa Chung Archive Collection for M&S, simple Benetton black trench coat and Nike 4 & Other Stories white sneakers.

I also wore my new folk clutch bought at Archivio Vintage event a couple of days before!

A couple of weeks ago I lived a real fairy tale for about one hour of my life.

I read about Malick Sidibé exhibit “Portraits” at the Antonio Marras showroom in Milan and I decided that it was the great occasion to visit the space and the photography exhibit at the same time. “Nonostante Marras” is placed in a lovely court full of green (with some yellow and brown as it was end of the Autumn – which made it even more suggestive!) and it is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen. I have been loving Antonio Marras’ fashion art since I was a student but this talented man never stops surprising me. Everything in this space was just amazing: the clothes, the accessories (I fell in love with his turbans!), the jewels, the furniture, the books…I just felt like a kid in Disneyland! I couldn’t stop staring at everything and I understood why this modern loft with a retro twist was indeed the perfect location for Malick Sidibé’s photographs.

On a vintage wall about thirty black and white photographs were hanging, near vintage sofas and couches, some of the portraits taken in the 70’s by this incredible Malian artist in his studio in Bamako.

Sidibé died in April this year but he told the story of his people through his amazing art, even if he didn’t like to be called an artist: he was “just” a photographer, he used to say!

The portraits exposed are simple yet very powerful and they all tell a story about these people’s life, relationships, tastes, that you try to guess with your imagination : it’s so incredibly inspiring!

For the day I wore a vintage Rolling Stones tee (from a charity shop in London), Acne Studios jeans, Zara boots and my new favorite long camel coat from Diffusione Tessile.

I added a wax headband from Sine Modus and a vintage tapestry doctor bag from Humana Vintage.